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Henry Arundell reveals plans for England future after loss to Bath
Henry Arundell’s Racing 92 suffered an away loss to a determined Bath Rugby outfit in the Champions Cup on Sunday, with the home side coming back from 22-8 down to win 29-25 at the Rec.
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The rapid outside back was “pretty gutted” post match but took the time to have a candid chat with The Big Jim Show‘s Jim Hamilton and Francois Louw, opening up on why he chose to stay in Paris and effectively close the door on England selection.
“I very much want to play for England. It’s just, unfortunately, the rules don’t allow it.
“For me right now I think the best things for me and my rugby is development, not necessarily playing for England all the time. Because while it’s fantastic and I love it, is it the best thing for my development at the moment?
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“I’m still very young. I need to learn the nuances of the game. The coach that I have [Stuart Lancaster], and the assistant coaches, Joe Rokocoko and Fred Michalak, they’re guys that have been there, done that as players.”
He also touched on the influence of double world cup winning Springbok captain, Siya Kolisi.
“There’s more to rugby than just the skill, learning off Siya outside of rugby, even leadership stuff. Whilst I’m young, I want to be able to lead eventually at some point when I’m in a team and have influence on a culture.
“For me it’s very much a development focus and in three years I’ll 100% be back to England to play and put myself forward for the 2027 World Cup.”
The 21-year-old offered his thoughts on why the RFU and England have the policies that they do.
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“I one hundred percent understand why they do it. It makes complete sense. You’ve got to look after your domestic league and you want the best players playing in the domestic league.
“My experience now playing in the Top 14, every club we go to, all the fan bases, as soon as they see Gael Fickou and Cameron Woki, it’s massive. It’s paparazzi, it’s everything. They love it. Fans want to talk to all of them. And that should be the same here. England internationals should be the biggest faces in this league and I understand why they do it.
“Obviously now, I’m going to say I’d love it if they open it up… but I understand why they do it.”
Henry Arundell opens up on his reasoning for England future on the Big Jim Show after a tough clash against Bath ⬇️ #rugby #InvestecChampionsCup #BigJimShow pic.twitter.com/ntlAgZnFIx
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He added that when having a private conversation, it was clear that England head coach Steve Borthwick wants him in the white jersey.
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“He fully wants me to play for England and I’ve got so much respect for him. We had a very good conversation and I told him this is purely development and this three-year contract is not for me to just enjoy playing in France and eat croissants every day. It’s to get better for England, when I come back, I’m a better player for England. When I was playing for England I wasn’t the best player I could be and even now I’m still learning a lot.
“Playing in the big games, playing in the Top 14 each week where every game is massive and you have to win, that’s where you learn. You learn to fail and you learn to get better and maybe avoid that English media side of things – that can sometimes have a big influence on young players.
“So I’ll be there for three years, three-year contract and come back and hopefully be the best version possible to be picked for England and offer the best for England.”
Watch the full post match chat with Arundell at RugbyPass.TV
The problem with this is that there are three things keeping Arundell in the England squad.
1) he is very good at rugby
2) he is very young, so will be selected ahead of equally talented players who are older than he is (eg. Murley, Cokanasiga)
3) he has spent quite a bit of time with the squad already, so will be selected ahead of equally talented players who don’t have existing relationships with the players and coaches (eg. Reed, Roebuck).
As time passes, (2) and (3) will no longer hold true, so he will only stand a chance of making the 2027 squad if he is head and shoulders above of the alternative options. You would think that signing a 2 year contract would have been a much better idea, so he could have made himself available for the summer of 2025. Not only will he, in 2025, be younger and a more recent England player than he will in 2026, but he will also be in contention for the Lions as well as England. Given that, and the fact that England will be picking from a wider group of players as a result of their best players being with the Lions, Arundell would be pretty much guaranteed selection.
Can’t argue with any of that to be fair
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